iPhone 18 Pro battery leak shows a significant upgrade – iPhone Ultra might not be the only exciting launch, after all

Apple might have an upgrade for all its iPhones this year, after all

iPhone 17 Pro Max in a Beats case on a table
(Image credit: Beats)
Quick Summary

A leak has appeared suggesting the iPhone 18 Pro Max will have a battery capacity of over 5,000mAh.

The only issue is the information comes from a source that can't be verified, so take this one with a pinch of salt for now.

There have been plenty of rumours surrounding the next iPhones, and while most of the focus has been on the folding iPhone Ultra, finally expected to be revealed this year, there has been plenty of chatter about the iPhone 18 Pro models too.

The latest report claims the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will have significant battery improvements, with their alleged capacities having been revealed in a leak. The information appeared on social media before being published by MacWorld, although it appears to be slightly sketchy, so take it with a pinch of salt.

What battery upgrades are coming to iPhone 18 Pro?

According to the now-deleted post, the iPhone 18 Pro Max will have a battery capacity of 5,235mAh on the Nano SIM model and 5,425mAh on the eSIM-only model.

Latest Videos From

To put that into context, the iPhone 17 Pro Max has a battery capacity of 4,823mAh for the Nano SIM and 5,088mAh on the eSIM version, so it would certainly be a decent increase.

It would also make it larger than some of its rivals. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery, for example, though there are some Android phones that are significantly higher.

But as we mentioned above, don’t get too excited just yet. MacWorld goes into why it doesn’t fully trust the source of the information in its post, but in a nutshell, the source appears to be a leaker that’s not well known, going by the handle @fireuniverse8 on X.

It says: “Fire Universe isn’t a leaker we’re familiar with, so we don’t have a track record to check. So what that leaves us with is a leaker without much of a reputation posting a rumour without a source, or repeating a rumour from another unfamiliar leaker, then deleting the tweet, but leaving up a tweet where we can still see the numbers.

"Hopefully that’s all clear.”

The site does add however, that in February, Weibo leaker, Digital Chat Station (a much more well-known leaker), suggested the iPhone 18 Pro Max would have battery capacities of roughly 5000mAh and 5100-5200mAh, depending on whether it was the Nano SIM or eSIM models.

While also not verified, these are at least in the same ballpark as these latest claims so fingers crossed because who doesn’t want a battery increase.

Britta O'Boyle
Freelance contributor

Britta is a freelance technology journalist who has been writing about tech for over a decade. She's covered all consumer tech from phones, tablets and wearables to smart home and beauty tech, with everything in between. She has a fashion journalism degree from London College of Fashion and previously did a long stint as deputy editor of Pocket-lint, but you’ll now find her byline on several titles including GQ, the Express, the Mirror, TechRadar, Stuff and iMore. You'll never find her without her Apple Watch on, aiming to complete her rings so she can justify the extra bar of chocolate and she loves a good iPhone trick.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.